


Young Lords

by PatchworkIdeas



Series: GatheringFiKi's 12 Days of Christmas 2020 [11]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Middle Ages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:54:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28172760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PatchworkIdeas/pseuds/PatchworkIdeas
Summary: The young lords had earned the loyalty they were given.
Relationships: Fíli/Kíli (Tolkien)
Series: GatheringFiKi's 12 Days of Christmas 2020 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2054739
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16
Collections: GatheringFiKi - 12 Days Of Christmas 2020





	Young Lords

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by GatheringFiKi's gorgeous Photoset!
> 
> Shown here with permission, and the original post can be found on [Tumblr.](https://gatheringfiki.tumblr.com/post/637950802621792256/12-days-of-christmas-2020-day-7-bonus-fullsize)

* * *

The Durinssons were an old and venerated family, their names known far and wide. They held titles and cared for lands, had sprawling estates and family trees reaching back to kings and queens.

Nobody would ever dare to speak against them.

But there was were two young lords among them for whom it was more than that.

It was not too unusual that young Lord Fili took over after his father died in an unfortunate hunting accident - he was old and skilled enough. Even that his younger brother stayed with him instead of leaving with their mother when the memories became too much and she longed for the home of her youth could be understood - his home was here, as much as some people shook their heads about the young lord - Kili seemed to have no sense of responsibility, no sense of ambition, for surely he would not find any power under his brother’s thumb.

But that was not what set them apart.

Nor was it their hobbies, as odd as they were. Fili himself was studious and meticulous in his paperwork, and unusually kind and fair in his rulings - but he still found the time to create incredible works of art. They were perfect, like so much that he did was, and yet it always felt like there was supposed to be someone in them that was not, the people he depicted longingly looking at empty space.

He had turned down every marriage match. He was looking, he said, like a good lord should, and he knew that god had made someone just for him - he would lay with or marry no other.

( _That_ was truly odd for his station, with plenty of choices around, but it was still far, far better than the stories told in inns, of lords who took who they wanted, because they thought they were owed. No, much better a devout and celibate lord, than _that._ )

Kili meanwhile could often be found in people’s homes, among wife’s and daughters. He was looked at with suspicion for the longest time, despite always being quick with a smile, friendly even when it brought him nothing, and kind to any and all.  
It was, ironically enough, the scandal surrounding him which brought his reputation up and removed the suspicion. 

The daughter of a wealthy merchant had become pregnant, and the father accused Kili. It was, strangely enough, almost every woman in town that called this a lie, along with Fili, who took his brother’s side without question. He never, ever touched any of them inappropriately, and the only thing he took was knowledge - Kili loved to bake, a hobby most unbecoming for a lord, and had to gather his recipes in secret. He even had the skill at baking to prove his words.

But the Merchant would not relent, and he insisted on the for him lucrative match. The situation had almost deteriorated to the point that their Uncle, the head of the family, had to be involved - a once beloved man who had become notoriously stingy and foul in his last years - when the woman in question had been found with a man from out of town. His reputation in shatters, and more than angry with his daughter, the merchant moved both of them away. Yet, the news still reached them - the child had no resemblance to Kili. 

For a long time Kili had to hear apologies from men who had doubted his word. He always reacted the same - by offering a scone, or a cookie, or whatever he had baked that day, and told them the past was the past and bygones were bygones.

But it was the year after that they showed themselves distinct from all lords who came before them and fully won their people’s loyalty, not for their name, but for who they were. 

Times were lean, and a bad weather front had destroyed most of the years harvest. More than one lord barricaded themselves inside, demanding they be fed while their people starved, uncaring and without understanding for the hardships their people faced.

Not so Fili and Kili. 

They lowered the taxes as much as they could, and made plans for payments in later, better years if even that could not be reached. Fili sent letters far and wide for assistance, buying food at ridiculous prices, and when that wasn’t enough, he went out and helped however he could, pooling resources so that everyone would have what they needed.  
Kili would meet with the woman to gather what little they had to make something for everyone, so that not a single person would go hungry. And in the depth of winter, the elderly and the children were welcomed into their estate, to spend the most dangerous months in comfort and warmth.

The famine killed many that year, all over the land. But their people were spared, not a single life lost, and their neighbors might enviously call it the hand of god or a deal with the devil, but the people only had to look at the bags beneath Fili’s eyes and Kili’s sunken cheeks, so similar to their own, to know who had saved them.

Yes, the young lords had earned the loyalty they were given. They were welcomed with open arms to any celebration, and their names were spoken with joy instead of fear.

It was little surprise then that when the rumors spread that they had lain with each other, that that was why they refused to marry and not because they were god fearing and pure and looking for their one, the people stood up for their lords.

No, never had they seen them exchange long looks, warm and soft and longing, like the lonely figures in Fili’s art.  
No, never had they seen them share a pastry, lovingly baked by one for the other.  
No, never had they caught them kissing, pressed close as if they wished they could become one.  
No, never had they heard them call the other love.

Instead stories spread of the time that Fili flirted, but painfully held himself back, for he had to wait for a godly sign.  
Of the way Kili would visit ladies kitchen, and share more than just recipes, but never too much, never enough for another child that might call him father.  
Of the way they were god fearing, but human, with urges carefully kept in check.

It was enough. And while they all had to repent for lying in the years to come, the father busy and just as guilty, they kept their young, kind lords safe.  
No one knew love better than those two after all, both for their people and for each other. It would be a crime to punish them for that.


End file.
